YET again we are confronted with the spectacle of old soldiers being hounded over events that happened decades ago – in this case more than six decades ago.

Military veterans who are now in their 80s are being quizzed over actions that happened during the Cyprus Emergency 62 years ago. Why? And more pertinently, why now?

If crimes were committed, why did the authorities wait for such a long time to act? As for the letter sent to former soldier Sam Bedwell, quite frankly it reads more like a fishing expedition from a firm of dubious lawyers than anything sent out in the Government’s name.

Mr Bedwell is bewildered and upset, as indeed he might be: what kind of soldier would want to testify against his colleagues in arms from decades back? And what kind of country would expect him to do so?

This modern-day tendency to go after erstwhile members of the Armed Forces, as we have also done to people who served in Northern Ireland, is completely inexplicable.These are men and women who put themselves in a great deal of danger in order to serve their country and as such they should be lauded to the high heavens, not troubled by lawyers years later. And what kind of message does this send to anyone contemplating joining the Armed Forces now?